We Are Becoming
by intheinkpot
Summary: Henry doesn't believe in heroes and villains anymore. Looking at his mismatched family of werewolves, he knows too well the power of perception. AU Post 2x10 "The Cricket Game". Swan Queen. Snowing.
1. Chapter 1

**PART I**

CHAPTER I

Henry Mills stared at his bedroom wall. Half-heartedly, he scrubbed at the dried tear tracks on his face. Archie was gone. Archie was gone, and his mother had killed him. Those two thoughts had chased each around in head for the last few hours. He took a deep, shaky breath to try and calm himself in order to make some sense of his emotions. He felt stuck somewhere between numbness and being unable to breath from the pain. Emma, Mary Margaret and David had done their best, but...

A sob hitched in his throat. He wanted his mother. He curled into a ball, a high pitched whine escaping his throat. He wanted his mom. He wanted her to be here so badly the pain and longing became unbearable; for a moment, he couldn't breathe. Then the pain ebbed slightly, and he gasped for air. He shouldn't want her: she killed Archie. But why? He roughly scrubbed his face clean of tears. She had changed. Or at least he thought she had. But she loved him; he knew she did. Why would she hurt him like this? It didn't make sense.

On impulse, Henry reached out for the phone on the nightstand beside Emma's bed. Since she and Snow had come back from the Enchanted Forest, Emma had given him her bed. He was thankful then, as he dialed his mother's number and the beeping of the keys calmed his mind, that she hadn't removed the phone from the room when she had given it to him. He hit send and pressed the phone to his ear.

It rang. _Please pick up. Please._ The phone kept ringing. When he heard his mother's voice, his heart skipped a beat. But it was her voicemail.

"Hello, this is Regina Mills..."

Henry bit his lip, hesitating, and let the message play through. At the beep, he said, "Mom, it's me. I... Why did you do it?" He sobbed. "I don't get it. I thought you had changed. Mom..." He trailed off, crying softly, and after a moment of just breathing into the phone, wishing she would pick up, he ended the call.

. . .

Over the next few days, David and Mary Margaret were absent from the apartment most of the time. They were helping Gepetto make funeral arrangements for Archie. Emma tried to cheer him up and take his mind off of everything. But on occasion she would look at him with a solemn expression, open her mouth and then close it, suddenly absorbed in making a Pop Tart or staring at the contents of the fridge. She seemed to be taking things just as hard as Mary Margaret and David even though she didn't know Archie that well.

On the third day after Archie's death, Emma went back to work, telling him sternly to stay out of trouble. Henry called Regina's cellphone for the tenth time, listened through the recorded message and hung up. She never returned his calls.

Before long the silence of the apartment seemed to close in on him, suffocating him. He grabbed his backpack, shoved a couple of candy bars inside and left. He wasn't sure how long he walked without any sense of where he wanted to go, staring at the ground the whole way. He only looked up when he caught sight of a familiar white mansion out of the corner of his eye.

He stopped. The mansion dwarfed the houses on either side, as always, but now a shiver ran up his spine. It was dark, devoid of life and warmth. It scared him how unfamiliar and uninviting it seemed. Not sure why, he fished his house key out of his backpack and went inside. The creak of the door made his heart sink, and the door boomed when he closed it. A thin layer of dust had formed on the stairs. He climbed them, listening to the loud echoing thud of each step. He shoved his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched.

Hoping to escape the oppressive silence, he entered his room. Everything was the same. Nothing had been moved or thrown away. Only the bed sheets were out of place, strewn across the bed as if someone had recently slept in it. The sight made his chest tighten painfully. He took a deep breathe, tears stinging his eyes. He didn't know why it hurt so much. He wished Archie were there to explain it to him.

He left the room and crossed the hallway into his mother's room. Maybe it would provide some clues about where she was hiding. His eyes fell on her dresser, roaming over the memorabilia collected there: pictures of him and his mother before the book, and the hand mold he had made her when he was four. He carefully picked up the mold. FOR MOMMY, it said. Right on her dresser where she would see it every day. Had it been here all along? Even when he had pushed her away?

Henry ran a hand a over the uneven surface, then set it down carefully. The doubt that had plagued his mind grew. She couldn't have killed Archie. She loved him, and she had never and would never hurt him like this.

Halfway out the door, he turned back and grabbed a framed picture from the dresser - one of him and his mother, both smiling, with her arm around his shoulders - and placed it gently inside his backpack.

. . .

He still didn't know where to find her, but the Mausoleum, he figured, was as good a place to start as any. He hadn't been inside for long, but it had to have at least one place to hide. If it didn't then at least there might be something he could use to track her down.

His footsteps echoed on the stone steps much the same way they had in his empty house. That thought alone made him call out, "Mom? Mom, are you there?" He stopped at the bottom of the stairs unsure where to start. If Regina was hiding here, the room would have a hidden entrance. Should he just keep calling? Would she even hear him if he did?

"Mom?" he called again, louder this time. Silence. As his shoulders slumped, he heard a grinding sound like when he tomb scraped across the floor in the Mausoleum - like a stone door scraping across the floor, he thought, perking up.

"Henry?"

He turned to face the voice. Regina stood just inside a room of blinding light. "Mom!" He scurried across the room and hugged her. Her arms wrapped around him, squeezing tightly but not enough to hurt. "I wasn't sure I'd find you."

"I'm so glad you're here," she said, pulling back. "I missed you so much. I have to tell you that I had nothing to do with Archie. I was framed. I don't know how, but... Just..."

As she spoke, she stepped away from him. Her expression was somehow relieved and troubled at the same time.

"You swear?" Henry said. Regina looked at him with shining eyes. "I really liked Archie. Swear to me you didn't do this." To his horror, tears trailed down his face. His voice cracked.

Regina crouched down, her own tears falling. Henry couldn't remember the last time she had cried - no, that wasn't true. The last time she had cried was when he had come back to Storybrooke with Emma. She had been crying and so relieved and happy to see him and he had pulled away and yelled at her.

"I _swear_ to you, Henry, that I didn't do it. I would never do that to you. I know how much you loved Archie."

Henry stepped back, glaring at her. Not for the first time, rage boiled inside him over what she had done. "I love Emma too, and you tried to put her under a sleeping curse! Why should I believe you?"

A pained expression screwed up her face. "I'm so sorry, Henry. I was wrong to do that. I was so scared of losing you..." She swallowed and continued, "Do you remember when I told you that I don't know how to love very well?" Henry nodded. "I was...scared, and I...lashed out in ways that I shouldn't have. And I am_ so_ sorry. Please believe me."

Henry studied her for a moment; she appeared genuine. "Okay," he said after a long moment. "I'm still angry, but... I know you've changed. I know you're trying. I believe in you."

A smile broke across Regina's face. "Thank you, Henry." She touched his cheek briefly with her fingertips and let her hand fall back to her side. "You have every right to be angry with me. But I _do_ love you." Her eyes shone the same way they had when she first said those words to him just after the curse broke. He hadn't been sure he believed them then, but this time he did.

"I love you too, Mom," he said. Regina's smile widened. He slid his backpack off his shoulders, dropped it on the ground and looked around the room. Everything was bright white, and a white tree hung with red apples and draped with strings of crystals stood in the middle of the room. There were a few elegant gowns in the corners that Henry recognized from illustrations in his book.

"How are we going to prove you were framed?" he asked.

"_We_ are not going to do anything," Regina said sternly. "I don't want you getting involved in this. Whoever did this is extremely powerful." Her expression softened. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay. Well... Can I stay here for a little bit?"

"Of course," Regina said. She gestured to a chair underneath the tree. Henry sat down awkwardly, wondering how his mother could stand how bright the room was. "Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm good." He rested his loose fists on his thighs. He swallowed. "Mary Margaret and David are making funeral arrangements for Archie. Emma went back to work this morning. I hated being alone." Regina grabbed a chair from against the wall and placed it in front of him. As she sat down, he said, "I miss Archie. But I don't know who to talk to. Emma's trying but..." He shook his head slightly. "Archie always knew what to say."

Regina placed her hands over his. "I miss him too," she confessed. "He was...helping me. With my magic."

Henry went silent. Archie, he realized, had been his mother's only supporter. "I'll help you now," he said decisively. "I'm not Archie, and I don't understand stuff the way he did, but I'll help you."

Regina smiled, eyes shining. "Thank you, Henry." He thought she was going to say more, but then she ducked her head. When she looked back up, her tears were gone, her smile a little dimmer, but still brighter than he could ever recall seeing it.

. . .

Henry left a few hours later, making back to the apartment before Mary Margaret and David arrived. He heard them open the door. He leapt off his bed, clutching the picture he had taken from Regina's room in his hand, and dashed to the dresser. He buried the picture under his shirts and pants then went out to meet them.

"Hello, Henry," David said. He smiled at Henry, but there was a tiredness on his face that he couldn't hide. "Do you have any nice clothes at Regina's house?" He frowned when he said her name. "We'll need to get you some for Archie's funeral tomorrow."

"_David_," Mary Margaret hissed at the same time Henry blanched and asked, "It's tomorrow?"

"Sorry," David said.

Henry stared at him for a minute. "Yeah. I can go get them."

"I'll come with you," Mary Margaret said quickly. "Emma should almost be done with her shift. We can stop by the station on the way."

She ushered him out of the apartment, shooting David a scolding glare on the way out.

. . .

Emma and Mary Margaret trailed behind Henry as he trudged up the stairs of the mansion. They followed him into Regina's room, standing awkwardly in the doorway while he rooted through her closet for his formal wear. Regina insisted on keeping them in her closet to make sure he didn't ruin them. He looked over his shoulder; Emma and Mary Margaret stared at the dresser. Emma moved closer, gaze trained on the hand mold.

Henry pulled his clothes out of the closet. "She didn't do it," he said firmly. "She was framed."

"Henry," Mary Margaret said gently, "I know you don't want to believe that, but she did it. We saw her do it."

"She was framed."

Mary Margaret gave him a pitying look.

"Let's just go," Emma said with a hard edge to her voice, putting an end to the conversation. Mary Margaret nodded, and Henry followed them out of the house.

. . .

The next morning dawned cloudless and sunny as though Archie wasn't gone, as though nothing had changed. Was it crazy to be resentful of the weather? Archie would have been able to tell him. Henry dressed quietly and without fuss. He hated formal wear. He had fought with Regina whenever she forced him into formal clothes. This time, he wished he had paid more attention when she did his ties. It took him fifteen minutes before he finally got it.

After that, the morning was a blur. The only thing he could remember was wanting Regina to be there. To put a hand on his shoulder, run a hand through his hair, tell him everything would get better and that one day it would hurt less. That night, Henry sat on his bed with Pongo wishing that his mother were there to make him something other than a Pop Tart, and wondering if Regina would have brought him Pongo to cheer him up if she had been there.

Someone knocked at the door. Henry looked up as Emma opened it to reveal Archie. He was battered but _alive_. Henry stared in shock, climbing off the bed.

"You're alive?" Emma exclaimed.

"Of course I'm alive," Archie said, a little confused. "But we have a big problem - "

"_Archie_!" Getting over his shock, Henry launched himself off the bed and hugged Archie fiercely.

"Cora is in Storybrooke," Archie said. "She and Hook held me captive - "

"I knew my mom didn't do it!" Henry turned to Emma, refusing to let go of Archie. "I told you she was framed. And now we have proof. We should go tell her."

Emma didn't seem to hear him, her mouth hanging open. "_Cora_? But we destroyed the portal. How could she - "

"I don't know - "

"We have to tell my mom. I know where she is. Come on!" Henry let go of Archie, grabbed Emma's arm, and dragged her out of the apartment. Emma shouted back to Archie for him to stay where he was.

They passed a startled Ruby on the stairwell as they thundered down the steps. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Archie's alive! My mom was framed, and we're going to go find her," Henry said.

"Archie's _alive_? But we buried his body! How can - "

"Cora," Emma said. "She's here in Storybrooke. We need to find Regina."

Ruby glanced at Emma. Henry couldn't see the expression on Emma's face, but Ruby's expression hardened.

"Then let's go find her," Ruby said. "Before Cora does."


	2. Chapter 2

Henry charged through the moonlit graveyard. Ruby and Emma called for him to slow down, but he ignored them. He had to get to Regina and tell her the truth. She needed to know that her mother was in town. Fear had shone in her eyes that day at the well as he begged her to trust in him. His own terror had kept him from paying attention to hers, but dread crept up his spine: for who could scare the Evil Queen?

"Hello?"

He stopped in his tracks, head snapping toward the unfamiliar voice. After searching the darkness for a moment, his eyes landed on a strange woman. Her hair was pulled into a bun and she wore a cloak.

"Excuse me," she said. She didn't sound dangerous. "Can you help me? I'm looking for my daughter."

"Sure," Henry said. The full moon flooded the graveyard with light as the clouds drifted out from in front of it. "Who is she?"

"Cora!" Emma shouted. "Get away from him."

Henry paled. He backed away, eyes darting from Cora to the Mausoleum and back. Could he make it if he ran?

Cora smiled at Emma. "I'm just saying hello to my only grandchild."

"Henry, run!" Emma commanded as Ruby threw off her cloak. The next second, a huge wolf stood where she had been. A snarl ripped from its throat. Emma shouted again, "_Run!_"

Henry tore toward the Mausoleum. Paws pounded behind him. Gunshots cracked. He hauled the Mausoleum door open. Something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. He heard a hissing and a whine just above his head. He glanced up. The stone wall was blackened and smoking. A flash of heat, then a ball of fire scorched his leg. He screamed, struggling to pull himself across the ground.

Pain exploded through his arm: Ruby sank her teeth into his right arm and dragged him into the Mausoleum. Once he was inside, she leapt over him and tore towards Cora.

Henry scrambled to his feet, gingerly putting weight on his left leg. He pressed both hands against the coffin, and pushed. His right arm seared with pain. The sight of his blood dripping to the floor made him dizzy. _I need Mom._ The tomb ground against the floor as it moved. Once it opened wide enough for him to slip past, he cradled his arm to his chest, clenching his jaw against the sobs that struggled to tear from his throat.

He stumbled down the stairs. "Mom! _Mom_! Mom, please." Henry hated the sobs that tore themselves from throat. Heroes don't cry.

But then he heard Regina crying "Henry!" and he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath as tears streamed down his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, not looking up when he heard high heels clacking against the stone floor. Only when he heard his mother drop to her knees in front of him and scoop him into her arms did he open his eyes, tears running down his face.

"Henry," Regina gasped, leaning back and gently touching his arm and staring at his leg, "what happened to you?"

Henry swallowed hard. "Ruby. Your mom. She and Emma are fighting your mom. We need to help them." He struggled to focus his thoughts.

Regina's face paled. She crossed the room and rummaged through a wooden chest. She pulled out another of her gowns. She ripped off one of the sleeves and tied it tightly around Henry's arm. He watched her, head feeling fuzzy and fighting to focus.

"I need you to stay here." Regina's voice was stern. "I'll come back for you, I promise." Before he could respond, she dashed up the stairs and out of sight.

Henry dragged himself over to lean against a wall. Taking deep breaths, he closed his eyes and listened hard, but he couldn't hear any sounds of a battle. His head swam. He felt exhausted. Scared, he opened his eyes. His breathing was shallow. _Hurry, Mom. Please. I'm scared._

After what felt like hours, he heard paws pattering down the stairs. He pried his eyes open. Ruby rushed toward him, whining. She nudged his cheek with her cold wet nose.

"It's okay, Ruby." He grimaced. "You didn't hurt me too much. It'll heal."

Ruby whined louder.

Regina dashed down the stairs and knelt in front of him. "Oh, Henry..." Her eyes widened. "Did Ruby do this to you?"

"She was protecting me."

Regina took deep breaths, and Ruby's whining reached a new pitch. He didn't understand what the problem was. Ruby had just been trying to get him to safety, that was all. What did it matter that she'd bitten him? It wasn't the end of the world, and it would heal and-

He blanched. "I'm a werewolf?" His voice cracked.

"Don't worry about that now," Regina said. She placed her hands over his wound. He felt a warmth encase his arm and then it cooled, and he couldn't feel his arm at all. The blood stain on the cloth around his arm continued to spread, but it didn't hurt. Regina took her hands away and absentmindedly wiped them on her dress, smearing blood along her front. "Let's get you back into town. The two idiots need to know my mother is here."

"We know," Emma said, appearing finally. She held Ruby's cloak in one balled fist. Tossing the cloak over the wolf, she leaned over Henry. "We need to get him to the hospital. I've got my car. You can sit in the back with Henry. Ruby," she added to a now-human Ruby, "can you carry Henry?"

Ruby carefully scooped Henry into her arms as easily as if he were weightless. "Let's hurry."

. . .

Snow White burst through the doors of the hospital. "What happened?" Her gaze trained on Emma, and Regina thought that maybe she hadn't noticed her presence. "Is Henry okay? Ruby said he gotten bitten. Bitten by what? And..." She clamped a hand to her mouth, eyes widening. "Is that Henry's...?"

Regina remembered the three of them were covered in blood from wrapping Henry's wound and carrying him into the hospital. Emma blanched as she looked down at her blood soaked shirt.

"Yes," Ruby said, grim-faced. "But he'll be okay. Whale's already given him a blood transfusion. He'll be okay."

"What happened?" Snow asked breathless.

Emma shifted uncomfortably. Regina sighed, stepping forward. Snow turned to her, seeming to notice her for the first time if the shock on her face was an indication.

"He was bitten by your precious pet wolf, Snow." She ignored the way that Ruby flinched, furious with her for hurting Henry and relishing the horror on Snow's face. "However... From what I understand, she _was_ protecting him." Because all things considered, Ruby had saved Henry from her mother, and so she owed her. "Aside from being covered in fur three nights a month, he'll be fine. It's the burn on Henry's leg that I'm worried about. Wounds from magical fires can be tricky to heal."

"He was burned?" Snow glared at Emma and Ruby. "Does anyone else have anything they'd like to share? Like what you were protecting him from?"

"My mother."

Snow gaped at her. "_Cora_ attacked him?"

Emma took a step forward. "Cora knew where Regina was hiding. Did you get my text about Archie?" Snow nodded. "Yeah, well, we got there at the same time. Henry knew where Regina was hiding."

"Why didn't he say anything?"

"You heard him. He was convinced she'd been framed. Until Archie showed up, he didn't have any proof. Why would he tell us?"

Regina tuned out the conversation, watching Henry sleep in a hospital bed. His burns had been bandaged and his bites stitched. He had been given some painkillers that had put him to sleep fifteen minutes earlier. Regina strode into the room, paying no attention to others, and sat down on the edge of his bed. She ran her hand over his hair, tears pricking her eyes. She couldn't believe she could do this; when she had seen Emma tell him she had murdered Archie, she thought she had lost him.

The door opened and closed softly, and boots scuffed the floor as someone headed toward her.

"Ms. Swan, pick up your feet properly. You wouldn't want to wake Henry would you?"

"Sorry," Emma said. She stopped beside Regina, crossing her arms. Her tone sounded only partly resentful. After a minute of stony silence, she added, "I'm sorry for falling for your mother's trick."

"She made an airtight case. Anyone would have believed it."

"I still shouldn't have..." Emma ran a hand through her hair. "I shouldn't have said the things I did."

Regina didn't say anything. Emma's words still rang through her head, haunting her. Emma may be regretting them then but what if she decided later that she didn't? Hadn't she and the two idiots already taken over the role of Henry's family? Hadn't he called Emma "mom" at the well?

"Look, I know you don't like me, and frankly I don't like you either. But if your mother is in town, we're going to have to work together to defeat her. Deal?"

"Only if Henry stays with me on the weekends," Regina said, not able to keep a hint of accusation out of her tone. "And any other time he wants to."

Emma stiffened. "I was just thinking of Henry when - "

"I'm not in the mood for your excuses, Emma." Regina frowned, turning away. She took a deep breath. "You're right, however. We will need to work together to defeat my mother - and for Henry's sake."

"Truce?" Emma asked, and there was no trace of reluctance in her voice.

"Do you agree with my terms?"

"You're - oh, yeah. Sure."

"You have yourself a deal." Regina ran a hand over Henry's hair. "He will also need to stay with me during the three nights of the full moon. Ruby may be able to teach him how to control himself during his transformations, but that could take some time. He'll need to be under my supervision where I can subdue him if necessary."

Emma stared at her in shock. "You want to use _magic_ on our son?"

Regina's lips twitched at use of "our". "Yes. Unless you suggest that we should shoot him instead?"

"What? No way! I wasn't - "

"I know. But while I can use magic to paralyze the beast or put it to sleep, the only hope you'll have of stopping it is to kill him."

"I don't like the idea of using magic on him."

"You think that I do? Ruby will be there to oversee Henry's transformation. You needn't worry."

"I'd feel better if I were there myself."

"And _I_ would feel better if you weren't. Dealing with a werewolf is hard enough without having to consider the safety of others."

"Fine."

"I'm glad we can agree on something. Now I suppose we should rejoin your parents. I can only assume they're coming up with some idiotic plan to use against my mother."

Emma sat down on a hospital bed next to Henry's, heaving a sigh. "I wish we could catch a break around here."

"I know the feeling."

Emma ran a hand over her face. "Are you sure he'll be okay?"

"There are ways of managing his condition," Regina said carefully. "We have the resources and the knowledge to manage it which minimizes the impact of the condition itself. It's the reaction of others that I'm most concerned about. People are not kind to those who are different from them."

"He's a _kid_. What's it _matter_ if he's a werewolf?"

"It matters." Regina looked out the window and watched the frantic conversation between David, Snow, and Ruby. She felt like suggesting they return to the discussion of Cora, but Regina found herself unwilling to leave Henry's side. Emma glanced out the long window with a conflicted expression and turned back to Henry.

They watched him sleep in silence.

. . .

After a while, Ruby came and got them.

"Regina," Snow said, "we're going to need your help to defeat Cora."

Regina rose an eyebrow. "Why should I help you? Weren't you just accusing me of a murder I didn't commit based on the testimony of a _dog_ - don't look so surprised, Snow. Henry told me what you did - and telling me I would never see _my_ child again?"

Snow looked like she'd been slapped. "Regina - "

David stepped into Regina's personal space, towering over her. Regina glared up at him. She refused to give into his cheap intimidation tactics.

"Look, Regina," David growled, "we've given you _more_ than enough chances - "

And then Emma stepped in front of Regina, pushing her father away.

"Back up, David. Let's all try to be civil, okay? Regina has every right to be pissed."

Snow placed a hand on David's shoulder. "David, why don't you get us some coffee? I have a feeling we'll be up late tonight." Grudgingly, David stalked off in search of a coffee pot. "Regina, please don't rile him up. We need to work together on this."

Regina shook her head. "After everything, Snow, you expect it will be that easy?"

"It has to be," Snow said. "For Henry."

Regina frowned. She considered snapping at Snow for bringing Henry into this - she was so tired of him being used as a pawn against her - before brain caught up with her heart. Snow wasn't using Henry as a pawn; this time she was genuine. This time she would set aside all the hurt and mistrust and bad blood between them in order to keep Henry safe.

And Regina would too. For all her show of resistance, there had only ever been one choice.

"Fine. Where do you propose we begin?"

Snow stared through the window at a sleeping Henry. "I don't think Cora will show up anytime soon. She wants you on her side. She clearly didn't intend for Archie to escape."

"No, I don't think she did," Regina said. "She'll lay low until she can find another way to get what she wants. Until then what do you propose we do?"

Snow took a deep breath. "I think we should help Henry deal with what's happened to him. I mean, Ruby can teach him to control himself, but he'll need a few days to process."

"We should also consider his safety from others," Regina said.

"What do you mean?"

"He's a werewolf. People aren't exactly accepting - "

Snow shook her head. "Henry is a good person. No one will hold this against him."

When Snow glanced through the window again, Regina shot Ruby an incredulous look. Snow had not been in Storybrooke when King George had easily riled up the townspeople into a mob with the intent of killing Ruby, but surely she had realized the dangers Ruby had faced in the Enchanted Forest as well?

"I guess there's nothing else we can do tonight," Emma said. She ran a hand through her hair. "We should probably all go home and get some sleep. Henry can come back to the apartment tomorrow morning." She turned to Regina. "I'll pack his bag tonight and drop him off at your house tomorrow."

"What are you talking about?" Snow asked, brow furrowed.

"Regina and I decided it would be best for Henry to start spending the weekends with her again. He misses her, and she's made a lot of progress with her magic. She's far enough along with her progress that she can start taking care of Henry again."

Regina bit back her retort at the way Emma framed her demands. The only thing that held her back was the knowledge that presenting it as anything other than a carefully considered decision made in the best interests of her "redemption" would likely spark a controversy between Snow and David, and that Henry would be thrust into the middle of it.

Snow glanced between Emma and Regina. "If you're both sure this is best for Henry."

"We're sure," Regina said curtly.

Emma nudged her arm with her elbow. "Play nice." She uttered the command through clenched teeth.

Regina suppressed the magic that longed to crackle at her fingertips.


	3. Chapter 3

A shooting pain in his leg woke Henry with a gasp. He clenched his fists and teeth against the pain, refusing to cry.

"Henry," said Regina's voice on his right. Turning his head, he caught her pushing blankets off herself onto the floor. She stood up from a white plastic chair he was sure hadn't been there the night before. She placed a hand against his forehead, brushing his sweat soaked bangs from his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"It hurts," he said through clenched teeth. "Make it stop."

Tears filled her eyes. He was tired of seeing her cry.

"I can't. Magical and cursed wounds can be tricky to heal with magic. I could make it worse." She stroked his cheek. "I'm so sorry." She looked up at the large windows, eyes scanning the hallway. "Let me go find a nurse - "

Henry squeezed his eyes shut and grasped her hand. "Stay." He swallowed. "Please."

She was quiet for a few seconds. Then she said, "Of course", the tears obvious in her voice. The chair scraped against the floor, and it creaked as she sat back down.

Keeping his eyes closed, he asked, "What's going to happen to me?"

"Nothing," Regina said vehemently. "No one will lay a finger on you."

"That's not what I... You think someone will hurt me?" His eyes widened, and he lifted his head off his pillow. Moving jarred his arm, and he winced. Glancing down, he saw his skin sewn together with stitches. The sight made his stomach turn.

"No." Regina shook her head. "No one will hurt you. I promise."

"But you think they'll try? Don't lie to me. I'm tired of being lied to."

Regina frowned. "There may be some people who will try to harm you. But I won't let that happen to you. Everything will be fine. I promise."

"Okay," Henry said softly. "Everything will be okay. I believe you." He wasn't sure he did, but if she detected any uncertainty, she didn't show it. Looking around the room, he asked, "Where's Emma? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Regina said. She placed her hand over his and squeezed gently. "Emma is at the police station with David and Mary Margaret trying to figure out where my mother might be hiding."

"Are they going after her?"

"Not yet. We don't know where she is. In the meantime, you'll be coming home with me for the next few nights while Ruby and I help you adjust to living with your...condition."

Henry let his head fall back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, eyebrows furrowed. "What does that mean?"

"It means..." Regina trailed off. The chair scraped across the floor as she scooted it closer to the bed. "It means people who are werewolves have certain abilities - abilities that others do not have. You'll become much stronger and faster over the next few days as the...magic takes hold."

He perked up. "You mean I'll have superpowers?"

Regina smiled at him, her face lighting up with so much love that for a moment it threw him. "Yes. You'll have super powers."

"That doesn't sound so bad," he said.

Her expression grew sad. "Henry, you have to promise me that until everything settles you won't go wandering around town alone. Can you promise me that?"

He frowned. Despite his mother's worry, he couldn't believe that anyone in town would attack him. He hadn't done anything wrong. Besides with his leg aching as badly as it was, he doubted he would be up for walking anywhere for a while. Still, he nodded for her sake. "I promise."

"Thank you, Henry." She squeezed his hand and gave him a small sad smile.

. . .

Henry limped up the stairs in the mansion, trying to ignore the soreness in his leg and arm. The previous night had been the first night of the full moon, and no one knew whether he would transform that night or next month. He tossed his backpack on the floor and closed the door behind him, shutting out the sounds of Regina and Ruby's hushed conversation. They were probably trying to decide what to do with him like he was some kind of feral animal. Or - and the thought made Henry sick to his stomach - were they planning how to protect people from him?

Feeling nauseous, he climbed into bed and layed on his back, staring at the ceiling. A few minutes later, the door opened. Footsteps approached his bed: Ruby didn't wear heels so it must have been Regina.

His guess was confirmed when he felt the edge of the bed dip and his mother asked, "How are you feeling?"

Henry thought about lying. Then he remembered how much it hurt when she lied to him and how hard she was trying to be good. "I feel sick." He turned his head to stare up at her. "Am I going to kill someone?" His vision blurred.

"No." Her voice was firm. "I will not let any harm come to you. And I swear to you I will not let you hurt anyone else." She brushed his bangs back from his forehead. "Everything is going to be fine. I promise." She hesitated, and Henry thought she looked scared. "But I may have to use magic to keep that promise."

Henry bolted into a sitting position. "What? No! You can't use magic. You promised!"

"Henry," she said soothingly, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I may have to. Let me finish, please. The best way to keep everyone safe is if I can either paralyze or put the wolf to sleep. I won't be doing anything bad, I assure you. Magic can be used for good. But I _swear_ to you that I will only use it when it's absolutely necessary."

Henry frowned, thinking it over. "Okay. I trust you."

He wasn't prepared for the tears that sprang to Regina's eyes. "Thank you," she said. She seemed to be studying him. Then she turned her head away, ducking it, and left the room. He figured she wanted to hide that she was crying.

He went downstairs later in the afternoon to find Ruby and Regina sipping coffee at the kitchen table in silence. The atmosphere was tense. Henry peered outside the window; the sun hung low in the sky.

"How long until...until it happens," he asked, unable to keep the tremor of fear out of his voice.

"About two hours." Ruby took a sip of her coffee. "Come on, Henry. Sit down. We need to talk." She waited until he was seated before continuing. "When you transform, it's like a wolf is trying to invade your mind. If you try to keep the wolf out, you black out and lose control. But if you accept the wolf, accept it as a part of you, you can keep control." She smiled. "When you accept the wolf, it's amazing. You might not be able to do it the first time, but when you can... I can't wait to take you running through the forest at night. It's incredible."

Henry tried to imagine running on all fours and couldn't. But soon he wouldn't have to imagine it. He would actually do it. With Ruby. He nodded his head. "I think I can do that."

They moved into the living room and watched a movie. Henry wasn't sure which one because he couldn't concentrate. He kept staring out the window at the setting sun. When it was over, Regina turned off the tv, and she and Ruby pushed the furniture against the walls and into the dining room and removed everything valuable from the room.

Only a few minutes were left.

"Are you ready?" Ruby asked.

Henry swallowed, trembling. "I think so."

. . .

Regina wasn't sure what she had expected from Henry's first transformation, but the seamless transition from boy to beast threw her. Glazed amber eyes stared at her unseeingly. The wolf swayed on its feet.

"Henry?" she asked, lowering her hands. She took a step forward, glancing at Ruby, now a wolf, before reaching forward. "Everything's okay."

The wolf snarled and lunged. Regina stumbled back, raising her hands, but she wasn't fast enough. Ruby slammed into the wolf, knocking it into the wall with a crash. It crumpled to the ground.

"Henry!" Regina gasped. She raised her hands, focusing on her magic. As the wolf struggled to its feet, Ruby placed herself firmly between it and Regina. Ruby lowered her head, snarling. The wolf growled, hackles raised and stalked toward Ruby.

"Ruby, move," Regina said.

Ruby hesitated. In a flash, the wolf fell upon her. Her head cracked against the floor, and Regina winced. The wolf turned its head toward her, baring its teeth. Regina focused on Henry, fixed his image in her mind - he was her son; she had to protect him - and thrust her hands forward.

The wolf froze, a gleam of purple magic rippling over its body. It swayed, head drooping. With one last half-hearted growl, it lay down on the ground and fell asleep.

Regina knelt beside the wolf, beside Henry, and tentatively touched its head. Its leg twitched. "Sweet dreams, Henry," she murmured. She heard Ruby snort. She looked up. Ruby struggled to her feet, slunk across the room to where her cloak lay pooled on the floor and crawled underneath it.

Regina blinked, and Ruby stood up, draping the cloak around her shoulders. Ruby touched the back of her skull gingerly and hissed.

"That's going to leave a bump," Ruby said. "It hurts like hell."

Regina almost offered to heal the wound through magic. Then she caught herself. No more magic unless strictly necessary. Whatever she owed Ruby Lucas, her magical services for mundane bumps and bruises was not it.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah," Ruby said. "But I'll have a headache for the rest of the day. He got me good."

"What went wrong? It appeared as though he had kept his mind at first."

Ruby shrugged. "I don't remember my first time. I guess the wolf was disoriented at first. That's the only thing I can think of. You'll need to be quicker tomorrow."

Regina frowned. She sat down and stretched her legs out in front of her. Carefully, she lifted the wolf's head, placed it on her lap, and stroked its soft fur. "Thank you, Ruby," she murmured.

"You're welcome." Ruby sat down beside her and watched Henry sleep for a moment. "He'll get it eventually. He's a smart kid. You won't have to use magic on him forever."

"Let's hope not."

A furious knocking on the door made them both crane their heads around to stare at the foyer. Frowning, Ruby pushed herself to her feet.

"You stay with Henry," she said. "Someone might have heard the noise and figured it out." She disappeared into the foyer.

Regina heard the door open. She didn't expect to hear Snow's agitated voice demanded, "Where's Henry?"

"He's fine. He's asleep. Why?"

"We came to see - we heard the noise and then it stopped. What happened?"

"Henry and I had a little scuffle. Regina put him to sleep. He's fine. I didn't expect him to get it the first time - "

"Are you telling me she used _magic_ on him?"

"Didn't Emma tell you? That's why we're here - No, Snow, I'm not letting you in there."

"Let me in, Ruby. We can't leave Henry here."

"Mary Margaret - "

"How could you let her do this, Emma?"

"Snow, I'm not letting you in there - David, wait, come back!"

Regina tensed. David rounded the corner, stopping short when he saw the huge wolf with its head in Regina's lap.

"Get away from him," David growled.

"No," Regina said. "He's_ my_ son, and I will protect him by any means necessary." Snow entered the room with Ruby and Emma right behind her. Regina frowned at the glare Snow pinned her with. "Unless you'd rather stop him with a sword to the throat?" She tensed, leaning over Henry slightly.

"What are you talking about?" David demanded. His hands curled into fists. "Are you suggesting I would hurt my grandson?"

"Are you suggesting I would hurt my son?" Regina asked, barely keeping the snarl from her voice.

Emma forced herself between David and Regina. She held out her arms, pushing David back a step. "Look. How about we all just calm down."

She met Regina's gaze steadily. Regina grabbed fistfuls of Henry's fur, focusing on its texture, on the weight of his head in her lap, on the way his body moved slightly as he breathed in and out. Charming had just insinuated she would hurt her son, and Emma wanted _her_ to calm down?

"I know we have our differences," Emma said, turning back to her parents. "I'm not a huge fan of Regina either, but we _all_ know she would never hurt Henry. She's his best bet right now. She can subdue him without hurting him."

"We could lock him up," Snow said. "That way he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. We wouldn't have to use magic."

"That doesn't work," Ruby said. "Granny and I tried that. I got out anyway. It's a miracle I didn't kill anyone." She gestured to Regina. "Besides, she can protect him for anyone who would try to hurt him."

"Who would want to hurt Henry?" Snow asked. Regina could see the fear and anger in her eyes.

David groaned. He tilted his head back, running his hands over his face. "King George." He and Ruby shared a solemn look. "If he finds out about this, he could try to use this as leverage like he did with Ruby."

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked.

"King George killed Billy and made everyone think Ruby did it," David said. "He used it to turn the town against me. He almost murdered Ruby."

"What else went on here while we were gone?" Snow demanded.

Daniel disintegrating into dust flashed through Regina's mind. "Where is George now?" David shrugged. Regina grit her teeth together and then forced herself to relax. "We need to find him and keep an eye on him. We can't let him know."

Ruby's eyes widened. She strode toward the window, peeked through the curtains and frowned. She sniffed.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked.

"I thought I smelled..." Her brow furrowed. "Someone was outside."

"I'll go check," Emma said, heading for the foyer. She stopped just before she disappeared around the corner and turned back to Snow and David. "David, you should head back to the police station and keep looking over the maps. There might be something we missed. Mary Margaret, you should find out where George is, what he's up to, and what he knows. Okay?"

David shot Regina another glare. Snow whispered something to Ruby who rolled her eyes but nodded. They followed Emma out of the house. Regina felt her tension slip away when she heard the front door close.

. . .

Exhausted. He was exhausted. That was the first thing Henry noticed upon waking. His limbs felt like lead, and it took a great effort to pry open his eyes. The next thing he noticed was that he was laying on the couch which was still in the dining room. His head hurt. Groaning, he sat up.

"Henry?" Regina rushed to him and started looking him over. "How do you feel?"

"Tired. Really tired." He peered up at her blearily. "What happened? Did I do it?"

Regina shook her head. "You tried your best, I know you did. But you lost control."

Dread crept up his spine. "Did I hurt anyone? Be honest."

"No. Ruby is a little sore from fighting with you, but she's fine."

"We fought? Why?" He swallowed hard, shivering, and asked in a small voice, "Did I attack you?" Regina hesitated in answering, and tears sprang to his eyes. "I'm so sorry." His voice cracked.

Regina pulled him into a tight hug. "Don't be. It's not your fault. You didn't hurt me. You _couldn't_ have hurt me. Ruby just reacted first. Once you were asleep, you slept the rest of the night." She smiled at him. "You had your head in my lap. You're as cute a wolf as you are a young man."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not cute."

"You're right. You're very handsome." She chuckled.

Henry realized - with something like shock - that she was teasing him. The last time she had done that was before... He suppressed a sigh. It was before he had gotten the book, back when everything had been great between them, and she hadn't been the Evil Queen, only his mother.

"Let's get some breakfast," Regina said. "I'm making pancakes."

Henry nodded, swallowing hard, and followed her into the kitchen. Ruby leaned against the kitchen island, nursing a cup of coffee. Regina moved to the counter where a plate of pancakes sat. The sound of boots scuffing against the floor made him turn to toward the coffee pot. Emma was there, making herself a cup of coffee.

"Emma," Henry said. He hesitated. "What are you doing here? Did..." He trailed off. What had he done last night?

"I'm here to see how you're doing. That's all." Emma leaned against the counter.

Henry turned to Ruby. She tossed back a couple of aspirin and took a long sip of her coffee. "Last night was rough," she said in response to Henry's questioning look, "but tonight will be better. Then we don't have to worry about it for another month."

He didn't find that comforting.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV

After Henry retreated to his room, leaving behind a plate of half eaten pancakes which Emma promptly transferred to her plate (because cooking like Regina's should never go to waste), Emma said, "I think Henry should go talk to Archie. It might help."

Regina paused in cleaning the dishes, tensing in the same way she always did when Emma tried to step up and be a parent. Ruby watched them with cautiously.

"I suppose," Regina said, washing a plate with more concentration than necessary. "If Henry agrees."

"Well, yeah, I wasn't talking about forcing him," Emma said. She realized how it sounded a second too late and wished she shove the words back into mouth. Regina tossed the plate into the drain basket, almost cracking it. Sheepishly, Emma said, "That came out wrong."

"I'm sure, Ms. Swan," Regina said.

Emma shot a desperate glance at Ruby, who shook her head with a horrified expression. So much for backup.

"I mean it," Emma said, turning back to Regina. "That wasn't a crack at you or anything. It just came out wrong."

"You appear to have a talent for that."

Ruby swallowed the last gulp of her coffee, tried to help Regina wash the dishes only to have Regina refuse, and then said, "I'm gonna go take a walk and stretch my legs. I'll be back in a little bit." She left, ignoring the glare Emma shot her.

Once the front door closed, Emma sighed. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean it the way it sounded. I was just agreeing with you. But do you think we could cut it out with the Ms. Swan crap? Whether you like it or not, we share a son now who _needs_ us to get along for him. So call me Emma."

"We do not share a son, Ms. Swan. Henry is _my_ son. No matter what you and your precious parents think, you have no rights to him - "

Emma slumped against the table, sighing heavily. "The point is that I'm in Henry's life now. I can't just get up and leave. Especially not now." She frowned. "I really didn't mean those things I said to you. I was just...angry. And hurt."

"Hurt?" This time Regina turned to face her, drying her hands on a dish cloth. "And what reason would you have to be hurt, Ms. Swan?"

"Because I believed in you." Emma got to her feet, her voice rising slightly as she remembered how she had felt looking into the dream catcher. "I believed in you when no one else did. I _fought_ for you, and then I saw you kill Archie, and I was betrayed and angry and - " She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I knew how much it would kill Henry to know you had murdered Archie, and _I_ was gonna have to be the one who told him, and - "

She stopped, taking a few calming breaths. Regina watched her with curiosity and confusion and several other emotions that Emma didn't have time or patience to untangle. Everything was always so complicated with Regina and sometimes it was just so _exhausting_.

"I know you didn't do it now, but when I thought you did, I just lost it, okay? And I'm sorry. Besides I haven't got a good night's sleep in forever. Not since Henry was..." She sighed, not wanting to bring that up again but knowing that Regina understood what she meant. "Then the curse broke, and a wraith was destroying the town and then I got sucked into a portal to Fairytale Land and spent the whole time running from your mother and I just..." Emma laughed weakly. "And it hasn't slowed down since."

Groaning, Emma sat down and placed her forehead against the table. She heard Regina move around the kitchen for a minute but didn't stir.

"If Henry agrees, I will take him to see Archie this afternoon. In the meantime, I suggest you get some rest. There is a guest bedroom you can use if you'd like."

Emma looked up surprised. Regina motioned to the stairs with a neutral expression as if her offer meant nothing.

"Go on, Emma."

Emma smiled slightly. "Thanks, Regina."

Regina didn't respond, and Emma headed upstairs.

. . .

"Henry?" Regina knocked on his open door. Henry lay on his bed, staring out the window. When she spoke, he turned his head to look at her. She sat down beside him. "Emma and I were talking, and we were wondering if you would like to see Dr. Hopper this afternoon?"

Henry shook his head. "No. I don't need therapy. I'm not crazy."

Guilt ripped through her, and Regina tried to keep it from overwhelming her. "Of course not, dear. I only meant that all of this must be very stressful and confusing, and we thought talking to Dr. Hopper might help."

"Oh." Henry frowned, gaze falling to the bed. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

Henry heaved a sigh, sounding so much like Emma at that moment that it hurt. "I don't want to talk to Archie. Not right now." He shrugged. "Maybe later."

"If you change your mind just let me know." Regina stroked his hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Henry said, closing his eyes. "Really tired."

"Transforming can take its toll, but I'm sure this will pass."

"Yeah, I guess."

He sounded so depressed and sad, but Regina had no idea what to do or say. So instead she said, "You should get some rest, Henry. Things will get better. You'll see."

Henry said nothing, just closed his eyes and slipped into a deep sleep. She sat there stroking his hair for several minutes before creeping out of the room and closing the door. Without knowing quite why, she made her way down the hall to the guest bedroom and cracked the door open enough to peer around it. Emma Swan lay sprawled out across the guest bed, mouth open and snoring softly. Regina frowned when she realized Emma was drooling on the pillows.

She stood rooted to the spot, watching Emma's chest rise and fall and hearing her mumble in her sleep. Regina couldn't make out what she was saying - nonsense most likely. She had never seen Emma so relaxed. She almost appeared as though she were under a sleeping spell.

She listened for a moment longer, but Emma only snuggled further into the bed and pillows and then went still and quiet. As she closed the door, she heard Ruby's voice:

"Spying on Emma, huh?"

Regina jumped. Furious with herself for showing surprise, she schooled her expression into her familiar mask and faced Ruby. "I was only seeing that she was sleeping. It wouldn't do for her to be dead on her feet when Henry needs her help."

"Uh huh," Ruby said, a smirk playing at her lips. "And that's why you were standing there for a full minute, huh?" But despite her playful tone, Regina could see the suspicion and worry on Ruby's face.

"Yes, Miss Lucas, it was. I'm not going to murder your precious Savior in her sleep, " Regina said.

Ruby held her hands up in surrender. "I believe you. Old habits just...die hard. I'm still getting used you not being out to harm us. Anyway, Granny gave me the day off to help you and Henry, but since he's asleep and you should really get some rest too, I'm going to head back and get some sleep myself. I'll be back in the afternoon."

"Thank you, Ruby," Regina said, ignoring the surprise on Ruby's face. "For helping Henry."

"It's nothing. I'm more than happy to help." Ruby smiled. "You should get some rest too, okay? Tonight's the last night of the full moon. You'll need to be well rested in case Henry can't control it again."

"Yes, of course. We'll see you later, Ruby." Regina entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her, trusting Ruby to see herself out. She needed some time alone.

Only a few short days ago she had been living in this house alone. Now Henry slept in his own room once more, Emma Swan - the Savior and Snow White's daughter - was dead asleep in the guest bedroom as though she had no worries about being murdered in her sleep, and Snow White's best friend was comfortable spending the night alone with her and had helped her make pancakes that morning.

For all Emma had been concerned about the rapid changes in Henry's life, Regina felt off balance and disoriented and _vulnerable_ for a number of reasons she could not begin to articulate. She took a shower, hoping the warm water would sooth her, and changed into a pair of pajamas. She struggled with the impulse to call Archie, unsure what she would say once she had him on the phone.

She slid under the covers and stared at the ceiling. The house was as quiet as it had been for weeks when it was just her. But despite the familiar silence, the house felt different with Henry back in his room where he belonged and Emma Swan drooling on the pillows in the guest bedroom. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. The comfort and warmth given to the house by Henry was something she soaked up, unsure how long it would last. But Emma was another matter entirely, and Regina didn't know what to think of the strange calmness Emma's presence brought.

The impulse seized her again to call Archie. She rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes instead and tried to sleep.

. . .

Regina woke up to someone calling her name softly. She opened her eyes, turning toward the sound, and then jerked away when she saw Emma Swan standing beside her bed.

"_Ms. Swan, what the hell_ - "

"Relax. Henry wanted me to come get you. It's almost four. Ruby'll be back in a hour, and he wants to spend some time with us before she gets here," Emma said. "Nice fancy pajamas, by the way."

Still scowling, Regina sat up. "Get out of my room. I need to change."

Emma smirked. "Are you going to wear a skirt again? Is that really the best outfit for dealing with a werewolf?"

"Out, Ms. Swan," Regina growled.

Emma chuckled. "Okay, Your Majesty."

. . .

Emma sat on the couch with Henry pressed against her side, staring out at the slowly darkening sky, fiddling with her phone when Regina joined them. Emma craned her head around to look at the stairs when she heard footsteps. Her jaw dropped. Regina wore a pair of simple gray sweatpants and a hoodie.

"Close your mouth, Ms. Swan, or you'll catch flies," Regina said with a smirk.

"Wow, I didn't even know you _owned_ any casual clothing," Emma said, smiling.

"I'm gonna get some water," Henry said and went to the kitchen.

Regina sat down on couch, leaving enough room between them for him when he returned.

Emma grinned. "You should try the casual look more often. Might frighten people less."

Regina rolled her eyes. "You'll have to forgive me. I refuse to take fashion advice from a Charming."

"Ouch," Emma said, "but yeah, good call. Mary Margaret's been trying to get me to go clothes shopping with her. Ruby bailed me out of that one, thank God."

Regina laughed, a small but genuine laugh, and her face looked so much different when she did - not younger exactly but more open, less Evil Queenish. Then the moment passed, and her mask slid into place, but Emma thought she could see past it a little bit better.

She leaned toward Regina, lowering her voice. "Look, I know you said it would be too dangerous to have me around for the night, but I want to stay and help with Henry."

"No, absolutely not." Regina shook her head, but there was no malice in her voice.

"I swear I'll stay out of trouble," Emma said. "Besides, I have magic too! Just teach me a spell or something so I can stay. Come on, Regina."

Regina frowned and sighed. "Very well. I will show you one protection spell which you will use in emergencies, and you will _stay behind me_, do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I promise. Thanks, Regina."

"Don't make me regret this, Ms. Swan."

Before Emma could answer, Henry reentered the room and sat between them, holding a glass of water. He leaned against Regina's side this time and stared back out the window. Emma felt a twinge in her chest.

"Henry, it's going to be fine," Emma said. "Promise."

"Yeah, sure," Henry said slowly. His gaze flicked to her briefly before fixing on the sky once more.

Emma slumped, not knowing what to do. She had been crazy to ever think she could take care of him by herself. Especially given the way he clung to Regina's side now. She couldn't blame him. She didn't have the best track record when it came to solving her problems or looking after others. She had barely been able to make meals for him while Regina was in hiding. David and Mary Margaret - _Snow_ - had done their best to help (at least they could cook) but none of them knew how to be parents.

That was what Regina had told her when she first came to Storybrooke. "I have soothed every fever, endured every tantrum, changed every diaper," Regina had said. She had taken care of Henry, had loved and raised him, and that was what made her Henry's mother. That was why Henry clung to her side now; Emma may have been the Savior, the breaker of curses and the hope and protector of an entire world, but Regina was _his_ savior from monsters and things that went bump in the night - even if that monster, that thing was himself.

And for all of Regina's mistakes and lies and the harm she inadvertently brought upon Henry, that was a role Emma could never take from Regina. It was a role born from experiences Emma would never have. Nights when Henry was little and convinced that there were monsters hiding in his closet and under his bed, nights when Regina chased them away and made him feel safe.

Emma swallowed hard and noticed Regina watching her out of the corner of her eye. Emma looked away.

. . .

Like Regina, Ruby was nervous about Emma's presence, but Henry insisted she stay and that had been that. Anything that made him feel more comfortable or safer could help him accept the wolf. Emma saw hurt flash across Regina's face; Emma recognized the sting of rejection, the sense of knowing she wasn't good enough, too well not see it for what it was. She and Regina would have to have another talk soon. There was so much more between them that needed to be sorted out than the events surrounding Regina being framed for murder.

Regina taught Emma a warding spell - a magical barrier to be used only in an emergency that the use of magic should be left to her as Emma was still untrained and inconsistent with her abilities. Emma felt her stomach twist into knots as she understood what Regina was unwilling to say: there was an actual likelihood that Henry could kill or otherwise incapacitate Regina.

As Ruby filled the remaining minutes until the full moon by telling Henry about how she couldn't wait to take Henry running down her favorite paths through the woods, Emma moved closer to Regina until there was a mere inch between them. Regina turned to her, her lips pressed together and worry in her eyes.

"I need to know," Emma murmured, "just how dangerous is he?"

"Henry is not dangerous, Ms. Swan." Regina pressed her lips into a thin line and crossed her arms. "It is the wolf inside him that is dangerous."

"I saw Ruby go wolf two days ago. She was fine."

"She has had plenty of practice at controlling her wolf," Regina said. "But the first time she transformed after the curse broke, she lost control. Have you forgotten what David said last night already?"

"No. I just..." Emma frowned. "It's a lot to take in. I can't believe that Henry... It's hard to accept that Henry has that in him."

Regina turned to face Emma fully, pinning her with a grim expression. "You have to understand that the wolf is a part of Henry now, but it is _not_ him. What takes over his body is animal and nothing more." She leaned closer. Her stare intensified. "You have to understand that Henry is not a killer or Henry will never be able to understand that himself."

A feeling of gratitude rose up in Emma so strong and sudden, she couldn't speak. Henry could have been raised by someone who didn't understand magic and who didn't have as much understanding and compassion for those were different than them. Emma had caught glimpses of the love and loyalty Regina possessed, but she had thought what she had seen was all Regina had to offer. She realized now that Regina had a deep capacity to love. She just hid it well. After meeting her mother, Emma could understand why.

"Regina, I - "

"Guys?" Henry's voice made her turn her head, her words dying on her tongue. He looked pale and shaky. "It's time."

Regina crouched in front from of him and engulfed him in a tight hug. "Everything will be fine, Henry. You don't have to be scared. Accepting the wolf gives you the ability to control it."

"But if I fail, I'll hurt you," Henry said. His voice shook and his eyes shone with tears.

And Emma knew then that this wouldn't work. She glanced at Ruby and knew from her expression that she knew it wouldn't either. But Regina cupped Henry's cheeks in her hands, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"You won't."

Regina spoke with such certainty and love that Henry nodded slowly, and Emma thought maybe it could work after all. Ruby pulled off her red cloak and tossed it into a corner. Emma gave Henry a thumbs up as she backed away. Regina hesitated. A jolt coursed through Emma, her heart beating against her ribs. Henry could change at any second, and if Regina was still standing there -

Then Regina backed away, her hands trailing against his cheeks until he was out of arm's reach. Only then did she lower her arms.

. . .

Henry's transformation astonished Emma. Seeing Henry change shape fluidly made her jaw drop. She took a step forward without thinking, and Regina pushed her back just as the wolf-that-had-been-Henry's face twisted into a snarl that ripped from its throat.

She knew that werewolves were not themselves when they transformed - or at least not until they learned how, she guessed - but the violence Henry - the wolf - reacted with startled her. The wolf lunged as soon as the transformation was complete, attacking Ruby and tumbling into a tangled mess. Regina's spell missed the wolf. Emma marveled at its agility. Regina growled under her breath. The wolf latched onto Ruby's neck, shaking its head. Ruby howled.

"Ruby!" Emma cried. The wolf flicked its gaze toward them, meeting Emma's gaze. The cold fury in its eyes knocked the breath from her lungs.

The wolf let go and crouched behind Ruby as she scrambled to all fours. It slammed into her, sending them sprawling across the floor toward Regina and Emma. Regina threw an arm out, pushing Emma back further. The wolf leapt, knocking into Regina. She fell to the ground, smacking her face against the floor. The wolf climbed on top of her, eyes locked on her throat.

There was no time to think, no time to pause for concentration. Emma wrapped her arms around the wolf's throat and yanked it away from Regina. The wolf twisted and thrashed in her hold.. Ruby bit the wolf's leg and dragged it away from Emma and Regina.

Kneeling beside Regina, Emma threw up the ward spell. The barrier was weak, flickering in strength, and one hit would smash right through it. The wolf started toward them, and Ruby planted herself between the tiny, almost useless, wall. The wolf pinned its ears back against its head and growls rumbled from deep in its chest.

Regina struggled to sit up, placing a hand against her temple. Emma wrapped an arm around her back. "Are you okay?"

"Henry," Regina gasped. She raised a trembling hand. "We need to..."

"Right, right, um..." Emma waved a hand, banishing the barrier. She held out a hand towards the wolf. _Focus, Swan,_ she thought. _What was it Regina said?_ Magic was about emotion, right? She had to focus on Henry, on protecting him. She took a deep breath, fixing the image of Henry resting against Regina's side earlier that afternoon in her mind, recalling the sound of Regina's laughter and the openness of her face: these were the people she had to protect.

"Hey!" she yelled. Distracted, the wolf turned away from Ruby. A blast of magic shot forward from Emma's palm, striking it squarely in the side. Blue waves rippled over the wolf, and it froze in place. "Aw, shit, what did I do?"

"You paralyzed him," Regina said, struggling to sit up on her own. She waved a hand, purple magic engulfed the wolf for a few seconds, and it laid down on the ground and fell asleep. She glared at Emma. "I thought I told you to stay out of the way."

"I wasn't trying to be in the way," Emma said, "it just happened!"

"Unsurprising."

"Shut up and let me look at your head. It looked like you hit it pretty hard." Emma pulled Regina's hand away from her face and leaned closer. Thankfully, it didn't seem like the wolf had gotten her at all, just the floor. It would be red and swollen for a bit and would probably be bruised by the morning but otherwise fine.

Emma sighed in relief. "You're fine. Did Henry - I mean, the wolf get you anywhere else?"

"No." Regina pushed Emma away. "This wouldn't even be a concern if you had done as you were told."

"Yeah, right. We'll just forget about how that thing was going to rip your throat out before I pulled it off you." Emma rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure what she had expected. Gratitude?

"And I would not have been in that position if you had not been in the way," Regina snapped.

"Fine, whatever," Emma said. She got to her feet and approached the wolf cautiously. "Is he okay?"

"He'll be asleep for the rest of the night."

Regina stood up, grabbed Ruby's cloak off the floor and tossed it over her. Ruby transformed back, groaning.

"God, that was worse than last time," Ruby moaned. "The wolf's got Henry's smarts too. Good thing Henry doesn't have a violent streak a mile wide or we'd have even bigger problems." She wandered over to the couch that was pressed up against the wall and collapsed onto it. She patted the seat beside her. "You should sit down too, Regina. You hit your head pretty hard."

"I'm fine."

"Nu uh, no way." Emma placed her hands on Regina's shoulders and pushed her toward the couch. "You're going to sit down, and I'm going to get you and Ruby an ice pack or something. No arguing." She tried to ignore the warmth of Regina's body seeping through the hoodie and the feel of her shoulders underneath the fabric.

Reluctantly, Regina sat down, and Emma moved away, instantly missing the contact. Behind them, the wolf whined in its sleep and rolled over onto its back, front legs sticking up into the air and its back leg twitching.

"We need to tape this, seriously," Emma said, grinning. "This is even better than baby pictures."

Ruby laughed. "Maybe next time."

"Let's hope there isn't a next time," Regina said, crossing her arms.

Emma sighed. "Right. I'll go get that ice pack then."


	5. Chapter 5

The bell chimed overhead as Henry entered the Pawn Shop. "Mr. Gold?"

"Yes, laddie?" Mr. Gold set down a crystal glass he was cleaning on the counter. With his suit and cane, well-kept appearance and reserved manner, it was hard sometimes to reconcile the man standing in front of him with the drawings in his book. With a twinge of guilt, he remembered how it had never been hard to view his mother as the Evil Queen. But what did he have to feel guilty for? He had known something about the town was wrong the second he had lain hands on the book, and the curse had made perfect sense once he realized how foggy and faded his memories of anyone but his mother had been. Still, he never forgot the way she had taken care of him when he was sick, let him sleep in her bed when he was scared, and the smile on her face when he made her the hand mold she displayed so proudly on her dresser.

Mr. Gold raised an eyebrow. "Is there something I can assist you with?"

"I, um, I need something. A cloak. Like Ruby's." Henry's gaze dropped to his feet, ashamed. Last night's transformation had been no better than the night before. It had been worse, actually, if the way Ruby favored her left leg that morning and the bruise his mother had tried to cover up with makeup were any indications. He hadn't been able to ask how she had gotten the bruise on the side of her face, and bile rose in his throat when he wondered whether he had bitten her. He had snuck out of the house after breakfast (which he had barely nibbled on), resolving to ask her after he had acquired the cloak.

Mr. Gold's eyebrows rose. "Really? And what might you need a cloak like that for?"

"I'm a...a werewolf," Henry whispered.

"I see." Mr. Gold studied him for a moment. Henry hated it when he did that. It felt like Mr. Gold could read his thoughts. "Wait here." He disappeared into the back. Henry heard him moving around in the backroom. After a few minutes, Mr. Gold returned with a forest green cloak. "It's a bit big now, but you'll grow into it."

Henry took the cloak and ran it through his hands. It was smooth and silky. "What do you want in return?"

"This one's on me," Mr. Gold said. He looked up when the bell chimed and smiled. "Hello, Belle."

"Hey, there," she said, stopping beside him. Her expression was a strange combination of suspicious and optimistic. "What are you up to?"

"Just helping young Henry here with a little problem he's having," Mr. Gold said. He smiled at Henry, and it seemed to be genuine. "Why don't you run along now? I can't imagine your mothers know you're here. They'll be worried."

Henry grinned, holding the cloak tightly. "Thanks, Mr. Gold." He dashed out of the pawn shop and jogged toward Emma and Mary Margaret's apartment. It would be the perfect place to hide the cloak until he could come up with a believable lie for how he got it. Regina would know what it was the instant she saw it, but Emma wouldn't. If they found out where he got it from, he would be in so much trouble.

He climbed the stairs to the apartment. Stopping outside the door, he listened carefully for the sounds of someone moving around inside. He couldn't hear anything. He opened the door and snuck into the apartment.

"Henry?"

He winced. Emma raised an eyebrow. She was leaning against the counter, a cup of coffee held in her hands.

"What's that you've got?" she asked, setting down coffee cup on the kitchen island.

Snow and David watched from the other side of the room from where they sat on the bed. Snow's eyes moved from Henry, to the cloak, and back. Her eyes widened. Henry could almost see the pieces fitting together in her mind.

"Is that a cloak like Ruby's?" she asked, standing up and moving toward him. "Henry, where did you get that?" The worry in her voice sent a spike of guilt through him. Of course she would be worried. Making a magic cloak to stop werewolf transformations couldn't be easy, and there were very few people he could have gotten it from. "Did Regina make this for you?"

"No," Henry said. "She only uses magic when its an emergency now."

Henry protested when Snow took the cloak from his hands and ran it through her fingers, examining it closely.

"Did you get it from Mother Superior?"

"I, um..."

Emma's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you got that from Gold."

"No!" Henry said. "I got it from Mother Superior. Like Mary Margaret said."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Emma rolled her eyes. "That was convincing." She took the cloak from Snow and studied it. "The cloak Ruby has... That's supposed to stop her from transforming during the full moon, right?" She frowned. "And you got this from Gold?"

"Yes, but he said this one was on him," Henry assured her. "He didn't want anything, I swear."

Emma pulled out her phone, tapped in some numbers and waited. "It's Emma. Can I bring Henry over? It's urgent." She frowned, shooting Henry a stern look. "You might want to check again. He's here with me right now."

Henry's heart sunk. So much for keeping Regina from finding out. He ducked his head and shuffled his feet when Emma shot him another exasperated glare.

"Yeah, we'll be right over." Emma hung up. She balled the cloak up in one hand, grabbed her red leather jacket from the coat hanger and shrugged it on. Opening the door, she waved Henry outside. He trudged past her, shoulders hunched. "You are so busted, kid."

. . .

Henry kicked his feet back and forth, shoulders slumped, staring at his shoes morosely. Emma stood beside Regina, arms crossed. Henry wasn't sure how his mothers had come to be aligned. Despite wishing his mothers would get along, he couldn't help thinking that this was not what he had in mind.

"You should have come to us," Regina said.

"Mr. Gold didn't want anything. I swear." He frowned.

"Not yet," Emma said. "But he might want something later. You can't sneak around our backs like this. And what if he had wanted something? Would you have given it to him?"

Henry didn't answer. He stopped kicking his feet.

Regina crouched in front of Henry. "Magic isn't the answer. What will happen if the cloak is damaged or destroyed or stolen?" She couldn't hide her concern. Henry tensed. He hadn't thought about that."You need to learn to control your transformations."

"No." Henry shook his head. Bile rose in his throat. "I can't." His throat constricted, and he ducked his head.

"Why not?" Emma asked.

Henry shook his head.

Regina gently touched his chin, guiding him to meet her gaze. "What's wrong, Henry?"

"I..." He swallowed hard. "I'm scared." His voice came out as no more than a whisper.

"Of what?"

"Hurting you," he whispered. He ducked his head, clasping his hands together and squeezing tightly. "I know I did last night. I saw the bruise."

"Henry..." Regina cupped his face. "It's not your fault. It will heal soon enough."

Henry shook his head. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. "I don't want to hurt anyone." A tear slipped down his face, and he rubbed it away. "I didn't ask for this. I don't want it."

"I know how you feel, kid," Emma said. He looked up, surprised. "But you've just got to accept it and fight on. You can't let this beat you. Do you understand?"

Henry swallowed painfully. "Yes."

Regina studied Emma for a moment with an unreadable expression. She ran a hand over Henry's hair absently. Sitting beside him on the bed, she draped an arm around his shoulders.

"I've never known Gold to go back on his deals," Regina said after a moment. She sounded reluctant. "If he truly gave you the cloak with no mention of a future return then it should be safe to assume that he is a non-issue."

"Are you sure?" Emma asked.

"Yes. Rumplestiltskin gave Henry the amulet he used to communicate with your mother free of charge. While rare, it is not unheard of for him to do things for others without anything owed in return. But I don't believe for a second that he didn't have ulterior motives. Rumplestiltskin never does anything out of the goodness of his heart."

Henry leaned against his mother's side, feeling sick. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. Wasn't there anything else they could discuss? "Did you find out where Cora is hiding?"

Emma shook her head. "No. We had Ruby and Leroy check out a couple of places with Mother Superior this morning, but there wasn't anything there."

"My mother knows concealments that perhaps the Blue Fairy does not." Regina smoothed her skirt with a frown. "My mother is more powerful than the Blue Fairy and more powerful than I am. The only one who could perhaps be successful in finding her would be Rumplestiltskin. He would desire something in return for _that_, however."

Emma slid her hands in her pockets. "Yeah..." She turned to Henry. "Do you understand why we're disappointed?"

Henry stared, taken aback by the change of topic. "Yes. I'm sorry." He turned to Regina. "I promise I'll talk to you first next time."

Regina pulled him against her side and squeezed gently. "I love you, Henry," she said softly.

He smiled. "I know."

. . .

Dinner was a pleasant affair against all odds, with Regina and Emma holding polite if sparse discussion. Tired of talking and being the one to fix uncomfortable situations between adults, Henry ate in silence and allowed them to take over. With his spoon halfway to his mouth, Henry paused. He took a deep breath. Something was different. He could smell it. Frowning, he could have sworn he heard footsteps approaching the front door. But how? It was out of earshot. How could hear those things, smell those things, when Emma and his mother, as aware of her surroundings as she had proven herself to be, were completely unaware?

The front door opened, and Henry was the first out of his seat. Before Emma and Regina had even gotten to their feet, he planted himself in the doorway to the kitchen. Ruby collided with him as she rounded the corner. They stumbled away from each other.

"Ruby?" Emma said. "What are you doing here?"

"King George knows about Henry. Leroy heard him telling people at The Rabbit Hole about it. He knows that Henry can't control himself yet."

"Great," Emma muttered. "Just what we needed."

Regina stood behind Henry and placed her hands on his shoulders. He could almost hear her heartbeat picking up. He leaned back against her, unsure whether he was supporting her or she was supporting him. Maybe it was both. Maybe it didn't matter.

"He's a coward using a child as a weapon," Ruby said. She wore a peculiar expression on her face, one that contained sadness and regret and several other emotions that he couldn't place.

Regina's grip tightened. "Unfortunately, he is a clever coward." She dropped her hands from Henry's shoulders. "Why don't you go upstairs, Henry? We have some things we need to discuss."

"No." He turned to face her, scowling. "I know you're going to talk about me. I deserve to know what's going on."

A pained expression crossed Regina's face. He felt a pang of guilt; he didn't want anyone to hurt anymore. She bent over so that they were face to face and said, "I don't want to worry you. It will take awhile to figure out what we are going to do. When we do, I _promise_ you I will tell you. Until then, will you please go to your room?"

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Henry's frown lessened. He nodded. "Okay. I trust you." He wasn't sure who he said that for, himself or his mother, but a weight he didn't know he carried lessened when he said it and realized it was truer than it had been before. The way his mother's face lit up, the way her breath hitched, the tears that sprang to her eyes told him it didn't matter who it had been for - it helped both of them.

"Thank you, Henry," Regina said softly.

He ducked his head, embarrassed by the emotion rolling over him at the sight of her so grateful. "Can I take my plate upstairs?"

Food had never been allowed in rooms other than the kitchen, and it surprised him when she nodded and said, "Of course."

He headed up the stairs with his plate. He hesitated on the stairs, debating whether he should try to eavesdrop, but Ruby said, "I know you're there, Henry."

Frowning, he trudged to his room.

. . .

An hour later, Regina and Emma entered Henry's room. They sat on his bed with grim expressions. and he felt his insides churn.

"We talked it over with Ruby, and we think it would be best if you didn't go around town by yourself anymore," Emma said.

"Why?" Henry demanded. Emma hesitated. He turned to Regina, angry and pleading. "You promised you wouldn't lie to me."

He could see her reluctance, but she said, "We're afraid someone might hurt you. There is a lot of prejudice towards werewolves - no matter how old they are. In the other world...in the Enchanted Forest...it was not uncommon for villages to hunt them down, no matter how long they had known those people. We want to keep you safe."

Henry's gaze drifted to the floor. The information sank into his brain, settling heavily on his shoulders. His chest tightened. His heart beat sped up, pumping adrenaline through his veins. "You think someone will try to kill me?" His voice sounded odd to his ears. The words flowed smoothly off his tongue, but they didn't feel as though they came from his mouth. "I haven't done anything. I haven't hurt anyone. Why...?" But didn't matter if he had done anything, did it? His mother hadn't killed Archie, had even saved Emma and Mary Margaret at the risk of her own life. That hadn't stopped him or Emma from believing she had done it. All the citizens of Storybrooke needed were to believe that he, a werewolf, were capable of harming people. And he was. That was what he was afraid of from the moment he realized what the bite had meant.

That was what he done last night.

Regina and Emma didn't answer him. He leaned over, resting his crossed arms on his knees and placing his forehead against his arms. He took deep breaths. His head felt light, and the room titled unsteadily around him. Regina moved closer and wrapped an arm around him.

"I won't let anyone harm you. I promise."

"I believe you," he said. If he kept saying he might just believe it. It wasn't a matter of whether she would _let_ anyone harm him. If the whole town converged on him, would she even be able to stop them? Would she be hurt in the process? Killed even? His stomach churned. He tasted bile in the back of his throat. People had tried to kill Regina when the curse broke. If she got between him and an angry mob, she would be killed. "I believe you... I think I'm gonna be sick."

He lurched to the bathroom and collapsed to his knees in front of the toilet just as his stomach heaved.

. . .

Snow had made herself, David and Ruby mugs of tea and coffee, but the cups grew cold in front of them as they all sat around the kitchen island in silence. None of them could do more than sip at their mugs.

David broke the silence. "I should have killed him when I had the chance."

"No, David." Snow wrapped a hand around her mug and held it tight. "Murder isn't the answer. We'll find another way. King George will never be able to convince people to hurt an innocent child." She had known these people, fought wars with these people. Many of the citizens of Storybrooke had fought alongside her, David and Ruby against King George. They wouldn't join his side now. They wouldn't hurt her grandson.

"I had only just become an adult when my village hunted me," Ruby said. "And they had all known me since I was born. That didn't matter after I became a werewolf. Granny tried to get me to be allowed home, but I had killed people. They said they could never trust a monster."

"But Henry hasn't killed anyone."

"Not yet."

Snow gasped. "What are you saying? I thought you were training him so that would never happen."

"I am, but it doesn't matter. He hasn't gotten control yet, and all people need to believe is that there is a _possibility_ he'll hurt people." She took a sip of her coffee and made a face. Snow was about to offer her a new cup, one that wasn't cold, when Ruby continued. "Henry is in danger. It doesn't matter if he's a kid. People will turn on him. Especially with Regina being his mother."

"But Emma is his mother. He's _my_ grandson," Snow said.

"Regina's his mother too. She's been his mother a lot longer than Emma has," Ruby said.

Snow hated the casual way Ruby spoke. Regina had taken Emma from her, destroyed Emma's childhood and left her with emotional wounds that ran so deep Snow wasn't sure they could ever be healed. And while she was willing to put aside the fighting for Henry's sake, it didn't stop the anger that simmered inside her at Regina for taking away her grandson too. She wished for nothing more than to be able to take Henry away from Regina, away from harm, and for him to live with his rightful family, the family he should have known had Regina not destroyed their lives.

Ruby shrugged. "Like it or not, he won't be viewed as your grandson anymore to some people. All they'll see is a werewolf and the son of the Evil Queen that cursed us all here."

"But that's not true," David said. He leaned forward, speaking earnestly. "As long as Henry can learn to control himself, people will see that he's no threat. They'll back off just like they did with you."

Ruby shook her head. "They backed off because you protected me and told everyone that I'd been framed by King George. They weren't willing to back a murderer. The prejudices those people have against werewolves haven't disappeared. Even if no one backs King George, he might be able to spread enough hatred that someone else will lead the mob. He'll get what he wants anyway even if no one will follow him."

A tense silence filled the room. Snow stared at her coffee, thinking hard. Could Ruby be right? She didn't want to believe that she could, but something stirred in the back of her mind. An old memory, somewhat faded, tugged at her conscious. She closed her eyes, hoping to help her recall the memory that flitted just beyond her ability to catch it. After a moment, it came back to her: the werewolves living underground, dirty and hate-filled. She hadn't given them much thought when she met them; she had been too busy running from Regina and her guards. She had all but forgotten about them by the time the fighting had stopped, and she had a moment to breathe and think. Would Henry end up like them? Living in a cave or a sunken castle somewhere, hiding from those who hunted him and losing his connection to humanity?

"We'll have to keep an eye on Henry at all times then. Just in case." David crossed his arms and leaned against the table with a tired sigh. "We'll need to take turns dropping Henry off at school in the morning. I'm sure Emma will be able to pick him up in the afternoon."

"Do you think Henry will understand what we're dealing with? He's a smart boy, but..." Snow trailed off, unsure how to finish her thought.

"You don't give him enough credit." Ruby frowned. "Like you said, he's smart. He'll understand. Regina and Emma are talking to him about it now."

"I hope he does."

Snow gripped her cup in her hands, and the image of the werewolves rose up in her mind once more.


	6. Chapter 6

Henry wished he was anywhere but at school. King George must have been very convincing. Children gave him a wide berth as he passed, squeaking in fear if he came to close, and cutting off conversations when he was in earshot - or when they thought he was in earshot. He could hear them whispering about him from down the hall.

As he listened to a group of kids call him a beast, he realized superpowers weren't that cool after all.

He was thankful he had been dropped off by Emma this morning instead of Regina. Everyone had watched as the Sheriff's car had pulled up to the sidewalk, and a few people seemed relieved when they saw that only Emma was there. Even though she fought it at first, Regina came to realize the importance of her absence when it came to the town's opinion of Henry. The less involvement Regina appeared to have, the less their opinion of her influenced their thoughts about him. A few parents had smiled at Emma and then at Henry. Some of the tension eased from his body, but other parents glared at him, ignoring Emma's presence. The worst had been Michael, who had watched Emma suspiciously, though Henry couldn't figure out why.

He was alone now, except for the cell phone in his pocket. When Regina decided he was old enough to ride his bike around town and to go to school alone, she had given him a cell phone in case of emergencies. It wasn't anything fancy - just one of his mom's old flip phones - and wondered why she had given it to him now that he knew the town had been cursed. What could have happened to him in a cursed town where no one died or grew older? Nothing, probably, which was why she had allowed him to do those things, he realized, but she had still worried. He reached into his pocket and wrapped his hand around the phone as if trying to draw strength from it. He had Emma, Snow, David and Ruby's numbers programed in along with his mother's, and each one was on speed dial. He wasn't alone. Not really.

Stopping in front of his locker, he took a deep breath. He would be okay. He opened the locker and started putting his things away when a group of kids down the hall caught his attention.

"My dad said werewolves are normal people," a boy said with a tiny mohawk. He spoke to a girl with a ponytail and another boy who had a green backpack. "He said people who think werewolves just run around eating people are being stupid."

"What about Billy?" a little girl asked. "He was killed by Ruby. She's a werewolf."

"Billy was killed by King George," the boy with the mohawk said, frowning. Henry thought his name might be Tommy. "That's why he doesn't listen to King George anymore. Ruby didn't kill anyone. "

"That's not what I heard. I heard she ate someone back in the Enchanted Forest," the boy with the green backpack muttered to the girl under his breath.

The girl shivered, eyes becoming big and round, and she shot a terrified look at Henry who looked away hastily. "Do you think Henry will eat anyone?"

"It wouldn't surprise me. He's the son of the Evil Queen, isn't he?" the boy with the green backpack said darkly. "I wouldn't trust him. I bet they're plotting something right now. I heard Ruby was at the Evil Queen's house last night."

"Do you think she's plotting with them?" the little girl asked. "That would suck. Ruby makes the best pancakes."

"I know, but I'll bet she is. I think she and Henry and the Evil Queen are all plotting something. That's what my dad thinks. He heard King George talking about it. I guess some other people heard loud noises over at the Evil Queen's house last night too."

"But why would Henry be plotting with her? The Savior is his real mom, and Queen Snow and Prince James are his grandparents. How could he be evil?"

"Doesn't matter." Another boy had sidled up to the group and joined their whispering. "He's a werewolf now. My Ma and Da always told me to be careful of werewolves. They're evil. Or have got evil in them even if they don't always show it."

Henry clenched his jaw and fists. School couldn't be over soon enough. Clutching the phone in his pocket, he thought about calling Emma or maybe Regina. Emma would be the logical choice because she wouldn't risk being attacked by an angry mob, and he had agreed at first that it would be safer if he wasn't seen with Regina in public for a while. But the childish part of him wanted his mother to tell him everything would be okay and to make everything better.

Shaking his head, he closed his locker. _I can do this,_ he thought and headed to his class.

. . .

Emma sat at the station, bored out of her mind with paperwork. She couldn't stop worrying about Henry either. With only an hour to go before she needed to pick up Henry, she debated whether she should call Regina and check up on her. It would pass the time at least. She tapped her pen against the desk. She heard the thud of a cane against the floor, alerting her to Mr. Gold's presence. She looked up, setting down the bear claw she had been nibbling on.

"What do you want, Gold? You said you gave Henry that cloak for free - "

"And I did. I never go back on my deals, Sheriff Swan. You, however, still owe me a favor, and I'm here to call it in." Mr. Gold leaned against his cane, a mild smile on his face and something dark lurking behind his eyes.

Emma let out a deep breath. Of course he would call in his favor at the most inconvenient time imaginable. "What do you want?"

"You are going to help me find my son," Mr. Gold said. He adjusted the brown scarf around his neck. Emma's brow furrowed slightly as she eyed it; she had never seen him wear that scarf before, and it looked too old and ragged for Mr. Gold's tastes. It clashed with his ever present pristine business suits. And there something about it that she couldn't quite put her finger on... "He's somewhere in New York. I trust you are familiar with the place?"

That snapped her out of her thoughts. "What? New York? No way. I need to be here for Henry."

"I will put this in very simple terms, Miss Swan," Gold said, taking a small step forward. His grip tightened on his cane, and his mild manner slipped away, revealing the darkness that lurked beneath. "No one backs out of their deals with me. You will help me find my son or I will kill you and your whole family - the boy included."

Emma stiffened. She opened her mouth to fight back but caught herself and clenched her jaw. "Fine. But I need to see Henry first - and Regina."

"I have already purchased the plane tickets for later tonight."

"I don't care," Emma said because on this point she wouldn't budge. "I'm going to see my son before I leave, and I'm going to talk to Regina. Henry will be out of school soon so it shouldn't take long."

"Fine," Gold said, his lip curling slightly. "Should I meet you at the Mayor's mansion?"

"Yeah, I guess. Wait, hold on," Emma said, a sudden thought striking her. "How can you leave Storybrooke? Won't you lose your memories?"

"I've sound a solution to that little problem," Gold said. "Now, I suggest you go pack. I'm not a patient man."

Emma tossed her bear claw in the trash, less hungry now than she had been before - if that was even possible - and called David to come take over the station as Mr. Gold left. This was the worst timing possible. If she left Henry here she couldn't protect him. There would be Regina, but would it be safe for Henry if the town found out he was living with Regina while Emma was gone? He could stay with Mary Margaret and David, but Regina would throw a fit. Emma was certain of that. And they still had no idea where Cora was. What if she attacked him again?

No, Emma decided, she couldn't leave Henry in Storybrooke without her. But Regina wouldn't like it. She'd probably think Emma was trying to take him away from her. Emma growled under her breath.

She hated Gold. She hated that he'd been pulling the strings on her life since before she was born. The paper in the cell - he had _known_ who she would be, that she would break the curse. How much more had he known? Did he have a hand in her life? How much?

Would he destroy the fragile truce she and Regina had created?

At that thought, she grabbed a pen holder off the desk and chucked it against the wall.

. . .

Henry climbed into the passenger seat of Emma's car without a word. He tossed his backpack down at his feet and slouched, arms crossed. He glared at his feet.

Emma sighed. "I guess school didn't go so well, huh?"

"Kids kept avoiding me and whispering about me and my mom - Ruby too. I didn't do anything wrong. I'm still the same person. Why does everyone hate me now?"

Emma ruffled his hair and said gently, "Don't listen to them. Don't let anyone tell you who you are. Push back and show them they're wrong."

Henry relaxed slightly. "How?" He swallowed. "I mean, if people are just going to believe all this bad stuff about me for no reason, how do I show them they're wrong?"

Emma started the car and headed toward Regina's house. "You show them by being yourself no matter what anyone else says. Do the right thing no matter what, kid, and people will come around eventually, okay?"

Henry frowned, slumping. "My mom tried to change, but nobody believed her. I didn't believe her, and I asked her to change for me." Henry drew his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead against his knees.

"Hey, Kid, come on," Emma said, pushing his knees down. "Don't be so hard on yourself. It can be hard to rebuild trust once it's broken. Besides, you believe her now, don't you? So you came around eventually. And I...well, I trust her."

"Really?" Henry asked, looking up. He caught the torn expression on Emma's face.

"Well, yeah, I mean, not completely, that'll take time, you know, but I'm...I'm getting there. I didn't trust her about Archie, and she was innocent. She's trying so I guess I owe it to her to believe in her, you know?" Emma frowned. "That came out all wrong."

"No, I think I know what you're saying," Henry said. He felt a pang of guilt. "Can I tell you something?" He looked back down at his shoes. "I don't think I really trust my mom yet either. I mean, I know she's trying, but what if she slips back again?"

Emma reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. Henry lifted his head. She had a small determined smile on her face.

"If that happens, we'll just have to pull her back, won't we?"

Henry stared at her for a moment, a grin slowly stretching across his face. "You mean it?"

"Totally, kid," Emma said. She pulled into the driveway of 108 Mifflin and parked the car. "I need to talk to you and your mom about something important."

Henry frowned, unbuckling his seat and turning to face her fully. Something in the backseat caught his eye. He peered around the back of the seat. A suitcase lay on the floor. Eyes wide, he looked at Emma.

"You're leaving?" he said, voice more panicked than he intended.

"I'm not bailing, kid. But that's why I need to talk to you and Regina."

Henry nodded, still confused. He grabbed his backpack and followed Emma up to the house. Regina opened the door as they approached.

"Emma," Regina said coolly. "Thank you for bringing Henry home."

"We need to talk," Emma said. "Can I come in?"

Henry glanced back and forth between his mothers; Emma's expression was serious, and Regina studied her for a moment before standing aside and saying, "Of course."

Henry led them into the living room and sat down on the far end of the couch, forcing his mothers to sit next to each other. He noticed that while they put as much distance between them as they could, they didn't seem as tense around each other as they once had.

"Gold called in a favor I owe him," Emma said. "He wants me to go to New York to help find his son."

"I see. However, I'm guessing there's more to it than that."

Emma took a deep breath and seemed to brace herself for what she was going to say next. "I want to take Henry with me."

Regina bristled, rising to her feet. "Absolutely not."

Henry could sense the imminent explosion and turned to Emma, desperately trying to convey to her to be cautious. She glanced at him. Seeming to get the message, she held her hands up in front of her.

"Relax, Regina. I just want to talk about this - "

Regina jerked forward, the air around her seeming to crackle with magic. Emma didn't seem to sense it because the only thing she did was continue to stare at Regina, but Henry crept toward her. Her back was to him so he reached out slowly hoping not to startle her when he touched her.

"I will not let you take my son from me," Regina said, almost shouting now. Her voice rang in Henry's ears, and yeah, having superpowers was definitely not all it was cracked up to be. His hand stopped just before he touched her. She thought Emma was going to take him away?

"That's not what this is about," Emma said, getting to her feet. "I just think that with Cora here it might be a good idea - "

"You think I don't know that you'll take off with him the second you're beyond that border, and I'll never see him again?" Regina said. Henry could hear the tremble in her voice clearly now even if Emma could not.

God, he was tired of seeing his mother cry.

Henry touched her elbow lightly. "Mom. It's okay. I'm not leaving." He slid his fingers down her arm and took hold of her hand.

Regina looked down at him, blinking as if stunned. "You're staying here?"

"No way," Emma said. "Cora's too dangerous. She's already hurt you once, there's no way I'm leaving - "

"He will be staying here with _me_," Regina snapped.

"Or," Henry said, raising his voice so he could get a word in edgewise, "we can all go together." They both fell silent and stared at him. Henry squeezed his mother's hand. "Cora is looking for my mom too. That's why she was in the cemetery that night, remember? We can't just leave her alone. We need to protect her too."

Emma just stared at him for a long moment before relaxing and giving him a small smile. "You sure about this? I don't think your mom needs any protecting." But then she looked at Regina and something on Regina's face must have made her reconsider because she turned back to Henry and nodded. "Okay. We'll all go together then. Is that okay with you, Regina?"

"Yes." Regina tightened her grip on Henry's hand a bit. "If Henry is sure he wants me to come."

"I'm sure," Henry said. He was a little surprised that she hadn't protested at all, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Then it's settled. We should go pack."

. . .

Gold wasn't happy when he arrived to find Regina and Henry were coming as well, but once Regina assured him she would be buying their own tickets, he relented. Emma sat in the front seat of Gold's car, and Henry sat in the back with his mother.

As they approached the Storybrooke line, Henry fidgeted in his seat. He saw Emma tensing and tossing nervous looks at Mr. Gold. If Mr. Gold's plan didn't work and he lost his memories when they crossed the town line, would he panic and crash them? It seemed like a possibility from the way Emma kept looking at him.

Fingers wrapped around his hand, and Henry looked down. Regina held his hand, rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb. He scooted closer to her, and then leaned across the space between them and pressed against her side. She let go of his hand long enough to grab it with her left hand and wrapped her right arm around his shoulders, holding him close.

The LEAVING STORYBROOKE sign loomed closer. Henry held a breathe, tensed, and pressed himself against Regina's side, crushing her hand in his - and then the sign was behind them.

"I'm fine, Sheriff Swan," Mr. Gold said, and Henry loosened his grip on his mother's hand, pulling away, embarrassed.

He glanced at Regina and saw her flexing her hand. Her expression was neutral, but he knew he must have hurt her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Don't worry, dear. You didn't hurt me." She ran a hand over his hair and smiled.

He could sense her nerves, though. He realized with a start that she had never been outside of Storybrooke. He took her hand again and said, "It'll be okay, Mom. You'll like being out of Storybrooke."

He smiled, and Regina held his hand a little tighter, seeming to take comfort in it.


End file.
